The present invention relates to an improved supporting structure of a planar heat pipe. The supporting structure provides improved integration strength and temperature uniformity of the heat pipe, such that the more heat can be transferred thereby.
The advancement of computer industry has developed a lot of high-precision electronic devices. Accompanying with the improved functions and operation speeds, these electronic devices generate more and more heat. To allow the electronic devices working under normal operational temperatures, how to efficiently dissipate the heat generated by these electronic devices has become an important topic for the research people in such industry.
FIG. 1 shows a conventional planar heat pipe 1a. The planar heat pipe 1a is mainly mounted on a central processing unit (CPU) 3a. The planar heat pipe 1a includes an upper lid 11a and a lower lid 12a to construct a housing 10a and a hollow chamber 13a enclosed by the housing 10a. Wick structure 14a can be formed on the interior surface of the hollow chamber 13a, and an adequate amount of work fluid is introduced into the hollow chamber 13a. To prevent indention of the upper and lower lids 11a and 12a by vacuuming the heat pipe 1a, a support member 15a is installed in the housing 10a for increasing strength of the heat pipe 1a. 
However, the hollow chamber 13a of the heat pipe 1a must allow the work fluid to circulate therein. The support member 15a is not fully in contact with the upper and lower lids 11a and 12a. Therefore, the vacuum process performed on the heat pipe 1a will still cause indention or recess of the upper and lower lids 11a and 12a. Therefore, while integrating the heat pipe 1a with a heat sink 2a, a surface contact cannot be obtained between the heat sink 2a and the heat pipe 1a as shown in FIG. 2. Therefore, a thermal resistance is resulted, and the heat dissipation effect is seriously degraded.